VABills Posted April 22, 2005 Posted April 22, 2005 Maybe the armed forces can now all incorporate a little of the "can do" attitude. Congrats, General Pace. http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/04/22/pace.ap/index.html
Gavin in Va Beach Posted April 22, 2005 Posted April 22, 2005 "We have two companies of Marines running rampant all over the northern half of this island, and three Army regiments pinned down in the southwestern corner, doing nothing. What the hell is going on?" -Gen. John W. Vessey Jr., USA, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; during the assault on Grenada, 1983]
Crap Throwing Monkey Posted April 22, 2005 Posted April 22, 2005 "We have two companies of Marines running rampant all over thenorthern half of this island, and three Army regiments pinned down in the southwestern corner, doing nothing. What the hell is going on?" -Gen. John W. Vessey Jr., USA, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; during the assault on Grenada, 1983] 312667[/snapback] Vessey should have studied his military history, particularly the Pacific in WWII. The Marines assault and take islands for the Army to garrison...
VABills Posted April 22, 2005 Author Posted April 22, 2005 Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But, the Marines don’t have that problem. [Ronald Reagan, U.S. President; 1985]
VABills Posted April 22, 2005 Author Posted April 22, 2005 A college professor, an avowed Atheist, was teaching his class. He shocked several of his students when he flatly stated that there is no God, the expression “One Nation Under God” was unconstitutional, and further, he was going to prove there is no God. Addressing the ceiling, he shouted: “God, if you are real, then I want you to knock me off this platform. I’ll give you 15 minutes!” The lecture room fell silent. You could have heard a pin drop. Ten minutes went by. Again he taunted God, saying, “Here I am, God! I’m still waiting!” His countdown got down to the last couple of minutes when a Marine just released from active duty and newly registered in the class walked up to the professor, hit him full force in the face, and sent him off his lofty platform. The professor was out cold! At first the students were shocked and babbled in confusion. The young Marine took a seat in the front row and sat there quietly. The class fell silent… waiting. Eventually, the professor came to, shaken. He looked at the young Marine in the front row. When he regained his senses and could speak he yelled, “What’s the matter with you? Why did you do that?” “God was busy. He sent me.”
nobody Posted April 22, 2005 Posted April 22, 2005 Maybe the armed forces can now all incorporate a little of the "can do" attitude. Congrats, General Pace. http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/04/22/pace.ap/index.html 312630[/snapback] Great choice, Too bad that he still has to listen to Rumsfeld.
Gavin in Va Beach Posted April 22, 2005 Posted April 22, 2005 Eventually, the professor came to, shaken. He looked at the young Marine in the front row. When he regained his senses and could speak he yelled, “What’s the matter with you? Why did you do that?” “God was busy. He sent me.” 312684[/snapback] Gunnery Sergeant Hartman: God has a hard on for Marines, because we kill everything we see. He plays His games, we play ours. To show our appreciation for so much power, we keep heaven packed with fresh souls. God was here before the Marine Corps, so you can give your heart to Jesus, but your ass belongs to the corps.
VABills Posted April 22, 2005 Author Posted April 22, 2005 Gunnery Sergeant Hartman: God has a hard on for Marines, because we kill everything we see. He plays His games, we play ours. To show our appreciation for so much power, we keep heaven packed with fresh souls. God was here before the Marine Corps, so you can give your heart to Jesus, but your ass belongs to the corps. 312703[/snapback] A golf buddy of mine, still in the Corps, was on the roof the day this was said. There is more to the story then this but, that's another story: They told (us) to open up the Embassy, or "we'll blow you away." And then they looked up and saw the Marines on the roof with these really big guns, and they said in Somali, "Igaralli ahow," which means "Excuse me, I didn't mean it, my mistake." [Karen Aquilar, in the U.S. Embassy; Mogadishu, Somalia, 1991]
Pine Barrens Mafia Posted April 22, 2005 Posted April 22, 2005 Vessey should have studied his military history, particularly the Pacific in WWII. The Marines assault and take islands for the Army to garrison... 312671[/snapback] Never mind that there weren't any Marines on Omaha Beach. GO ARMY!
VABills Posted April 22, 2005 Author Posted April 22, 2005 Never mind that there weren't any Marines on Omaha Beach. GO ARMY! 312729[/snapback] Where was anything said about Omaha beach? Oh and there were Marines there. British Royals were very much in attendance that day.
Terry Tate Posted April 22, 2005 Posted April 22, 2005 BTW, June 1980 - June 1983 Major / Lt Col Peter Pace was Commanding Officer, Marine Corps Recruiting Station, Buffalo, N. Y. From a June 4, 2002 DoD press briefing: Pace: From the president to the secretary to -- so that, what I'm trying to get to, is the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the vice chairman are not in that chain of command. And we are here to give our best military advice. And we listen to the data that comes in from the commanders in the field and we digest that based on our experience, and we make our recommendations to the secretary and he takes that and puts that into his body of knowledge and makes his own decision of what's going to happen. Q: And your recommendation was? Pace: Great -- it was a great recommendation. (Laughter.)
VABills Posted April 22, 2005 Author Posted April 22, 2005 BTW, June 1980 - June 1983 Major / Lt Col Peter Pace was Commanding Officer, Marine Corps Recruiting Station, Buffalo, N. Y. From a June 4, 2002 DoD press briefing: Pace: From the president to the secretary to -- so that, what I'm trying to get to, is the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the vice chairman are not in that chain of command. And we are here to give our best military advice. And we listen to the data that comes in from the commanders in the field and we digest that based on our experience, and we make our recommendations to the secretary and he takes that and puts that into his body of knowledge and makes his own decision of what's going to happen. Q: And your recommendation was? Pace: Great -- it was a great recommendation. (Laughter.) 312777[/snapback] Wow I didn't realize that he was there then. I guess he was the SOB who did the room full of us swearing in before I went to boot camp. Seems I met him twice then.
Berg Posted April 22, 2005 Posted April 22, 2005 Maybe the armed forces can now all incorporate a little of the "can do" attitude. Congrats, General Pace. http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/04/22/pace.ap/index.html 312630[/snapback] Call me a cynic, but without command authority, what exactly do you expect him to do? The CJCS is a political position only, and i've seen no appreciable differences among any of the Charimen since I've been associated with the military. Good for him, but I wonder if it will make any real difference.
VABills Posted April 22, 2005 Author Posted April 22, 2005 Call me a cynic, but without command authority, what exactly do you expect him to do? The CJCS is a political position only, and i've seen no appreciable differences among any of the Charimen since I've been associated with the military. Good for him, but I wonder if it will make any real difference. 312802[/snapback] You're right, but you never had a Marine as the Chairman. That said, he does make recommendations on service make-up, top level battle plans, high-level unit capability, and overall service missions. I could see where the "Marine" mentality could be forced into the other services by changing goals, missions etc... slightly. For example, Air Force pilots being forced to go to ground warfare schools to better understand the mission of the grunt and maybe make better recommendations on targetting strategy, rather then just being told what to do. This is what I mean by a Marine mentality, getting everyone on the same page, and adapting to situations better. Another might be better fire control and basic weapon care being incorporated into the support units for other services, so you don't have a Jessica Lynch situation again where half the weapons jammed because they were dirty and the unit had no ability to defend themselves.
Berg Posted April 22, 2005 Posted April 22, 2005 You're right, but you never had a Marine as the Chairman. That said, he does make recommendations on service make-up, top level battle plans, high-level unit capability, and overall service missions. I could see where the "Marine" mentality could be forced into the other services by changing goals, missions etc... slightly. For example, Air Force pilots being forced to go to ground warfare schools to better understand the mission of the grunt and maybe make better recommendations on targetting strategy, rather then just being told what to do. This is what I mean by a Marine mentality, getting everyone on the same page, and adapting to situations better. Another might be better fire control and basic weapon care being incorporated into the support units for other services, so you don't have a Jessica Lynch situation again where half the weapons jammed because they were dirty and the unit had no ability to defend themselves. 312812[/snapback] Fair enough. What I'd really like him to do is revamp the stupid "Total Force" concept to something workable for today's warfare environment. That's probably more of a Rumsfeld call though I would hope the CJCS could influence that pretty heavily. I really hope you're right and a Marine can shake things up enough to make a real difference. Semper Fi, I guess...
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